Dreams (1990)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Starring Akira Terao, Martin Scorsese

Based on the dreams of the accomplished director, Dreams is a stylishly visual film that explores the possibilities of the medium. Haunting and original, Dreams is unlike any of Kurosawa’s previous films but in its essence an art piece.

The film is divided into several vignettes, punctuated by three nightmares. Each is unique and memorable in their varied imagery, but certain scenes have a strange permenance that cannot easily be forgotten. Standing out for me was the impressionistic meanderings through a Van Gogh painting in The Crows, the blue-faced dead in the Tunnel, and the horned mutants standing out against a gray sky in the Weeping Demon.

Watching this portmanteau film is more of an image-driven experience than a narrative one, but Kurosawa achieves an original method of conveying true horror, joy, dread, and mystery. Look for Martin Scorsese’s appearance in The Crows.